Blind Cat

14 years ago

I'm kind of stunned.

I've been fostering a cat in renal failure, and she is doing fine in that regard. She is sweet and loving. She is eating well, no additional fluids. I've had her a month, and she basically chose to live in the bathroom, on the sink, where I set up a bed and food. It seemed strange that she rarely left her spot. I tried to get her to play, throwing toys in her direction. No interest.

Always used the litter box. She explored at night, or when I was gone with Lucy, my Lab.

Then I moved.

In the chaos of moving, she was amazingly under foot. Like she had no clue where she was. I accounted it to being old, but she's only 8.

In the new apartment, she walks in circles. She kept falling off the bed. She follows me everywhere.

And she never looks up.

So I tried a menace response, moving my hand quickly to her face. Nothing. Did it again, and again. Nothing. She's blind. I watched her closely now as she walks around the house. She is definitely blind.

So basically, I moved the furniture on a blind cat : (

I have sturdy fleece-covered foam steps at the foot of my bed for my dog. I've been trying to lure her up and down the steps so she learns how to better access the bed she just wants to be with me. I took her into my recliner just now, and will guide her off. I want her to learn the height of the bed, sofa and chairs.

Is there anything else I can do to help her learn her space?

It's about a week since I moved, and she walks aimlessly.

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Comments (5)

laurief_gw
14 years ago
I expect it will just take time for her to learn her new space. In the meantime, if your apartment isn't carpeted, I recommend putting cushioned rugs under every piece of furniture that she may get up on so that if she falls off, she'll have a soft landing and minimize risk of broken legs.

More importantly, you need to get her to a vet with a doplar machine to check her blood pressure ASAP. In a CRF cat, blindness is often a result of uncontrolled high blood pressure. In fact, if her blindness is very recent, and if it did result from HBP that you can get controlled very quickly, you may even be able to restore her sight.

Laurie
Elly_NJ
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you, Laurie. She is going to the vet tomorrow.

Do all vets have the capacity to check blood pressure?
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laurief_gw
14 years ago
Sadly, no. I live in a rural area, and the nearest vet with a doplar is 100 miles away. None of the local vets have the necessary equipment. If you live in an urban or suburban area, however, your chances of finding a vet with a doplar is much greater.

Laurie
Elly_NJ
Original Author
14 years ago
I am fostering Sunny because she has crf and the shelter could not find her a home as is. What the shelter does is reach out to staff and volunteers to foster cats with health problems cats to give them a home, love and peace in the last years (months, weeks) of their lives.

I don't know if their vet will have access to the doplar.
lzrddr
14 years ago
Well you can pretty much guarantee that a renal failure cat that went blind has high blood pressure, so if you can't get the bp measured, perhaps your local vets can start her on Norvasc anyway as it is pretty harmless if you don't have high blood pressure (assuming your cat does not have super low blood pressure- pretty unlikely).